Untitled

Zacky’s POV

“Finally! The mail’s here.”

Brian strolled into the kitchen, holding a stack of envelopes. He began to flip through them, anticipation on his face.

“What, expecting a Victoria’s Secret catalog?”, I asked him sarcastically.

“No.”, he said instantly. Suddenly he held out an envelope to me. “Looks like it’s that time of the month, dude. Better get your checkbook.”

I groaned inwardly. I knew this was coming. It always came at the beginning of the month. I’d always try to forget, try to imagine this wasn’t happening to me. But it was. With a sigh, I took the envelope from Brian and ripped it open.

“I don’t know why you always act like this when you get the papers.”, Brian mused. “You know they’re coming.”

“Can’t a guy dream?”, I questioned, flipping my checkbook open to an empty page. I quickly scrawled my name and the amount of the check, two hundred and fifty dollars. I ripped it out and slapped it onto the table.

“What I don’t understand is why the hell she needs so much money.”, I grumbled.

“Babies are expensive.”, Brian stated. “What with diapers and formula and clothes and all that other shit.”

“So?”, I snapped. “It’s not like I actually care about the damn thing.”

Brian stared at me quizzically. “You’re cold, dude.”

Despite whatever objections Brian had to my attitude, I stuck to my opinion. I didn’t care about the baby when Tayler was pregnant, I didn’t care about it when it was born, and I don’t care about it now. Hell, I didn’t even know if it was a boy or a girl.

“I best go mail this.”, I said, scooping up the papers.

“Good. Maybe after they’re in the Goddamn mailbox, you’ll shut the fuck up.”, Brian mumbled.

I flipped him off as I walked out the door.

Tayler’s POV

“No, Stella.”, I said for what seemed like the fiftieth time. I reached down and pulled the object from my daughter’s hands. “Don’t play with that. Go play with your toys.”

Stella’s attention was quickly redirected as the door opened and shut. My mother appeared in the living room, mail in hand.

Stella held out her arms. “Nana!”, she cooed.

“Hello, sweetheart.” She scooped her granddaughter into her arms. “Tayler, you have a letter in the mail. Look’s like it’s from Zacky.”

Sighing, I took the letter from my mom’s hands. The address on the front confirmed it was Zacky, although it was most likely just the monthly child support check. I can’t remember the last time Zacky contacted me without having to be absolutely forced to do so.

I ripped it open with a flourish, and half-way smiled as the check fell into my hands. I slipped it inside my wallet. “Well, I guess I’ll go cash this. And then I’m going to go pick up some more diapers. Mom, can you watch Stella?”

“No, Talyer. I’m sorry.”, she apologized. “I’ve got to be at the hospital by five.”

“Alright then. I’ll just take Stella with me.” I took Stella from my mother’s arms. “So, Stella. What do you say? You want to go on an adventure with mommy?”

And what an adventure it would be.

. . .

“Stella, no.” I took the box of cereal from Stella and put it back on the shelf. “Quit that. You know you’re not supposed to grab things off the shelves.”

I rubbed my temples. I really didn’t like taking Stella shopping with me. Lately she had been such a handful in the supermarket, grabbing things off the shelves, sticking things in her mouth. Well, maybe if her father...

I instantly stopped myself. Thinking of Zack was never a good thing. On the occasions that he filtered through my mind, I found myself depressed, always wondering what went wrong.

For quite some time, Zacky and I had been in love. We had even talked about getting married. But one thing we never talked about was children. From the start, Zacky told me he didn’t want to be tied down by any kids. So when I became pregnant with Stella, he didn’t take it well. Hence, his complete absence from our lives and the child support checks.

Suddenly my shopping cart collided with someone else’s. Stella jerked forward and I reached out to steady her.

“Oh, I’m sorry.” The driver of the other cart quickly apologized.

That voice. I’ve heard that voice before. But where? No, it couldn’t be...

I glanced up quickly and found myself staring at Zacky. I was surprised. What was the chance I’d see Zacky here, when I hadn’t seen or heard from him in any conceivable way in over a year?

His shock was obvious as well. He looked at me like he was seeing a ghost. And to him, I might as well have been.

“Tayler...”, he breathed. “What are you doing here?”

“Buying groceries. What else?”, I said.

“Oh. I though, maybe...”

“What? You though what, Zacky?”, I asked.

“Nothing.”, he mumbled, looking away.

“Zack, are you ashamed of me?”

My sudden question made him look up. “N-No. Why would you think that, Tayler? I love you.”

“You have a funny way of showing it.”, I snapped. “Running off when I needed you most, when I was pregnant with our baby, Zack. If you really did love me, you wouldn’t have done that.”

“Tayler, I told you I didn’t want any kids.”

“And you think I wanted to be a single mom?”, I shouted, tears forming in the corners of my eyes. This was not the conversation I wanted to be having in the middle of the supermarket. “I was terrified after you left. I was nineteen years old, I didn’t know how to be a mother. But I had to learn, I didn’t have a choice. With you gone, I was and still am all Stella has.”

“Stella?” His voice was soft. “We have a girl?”

“What is with this ‘we’ shit, Zacky?”, I hissed. “You don’t care about her. You didn’t even know we had a daughter! So, why don’t you go home to your friends? Leave me alone, and pretend like I don’t even exist, just like you did before.”

I could tell my words hurt. His bright green eyes faded to a dull hunter green as he returned his gaze to my face. “No. I don’t want to do that. I-I talked to Brian today, and he made me realize that I was wrong. I was a total asshole, and I know that. So, I thought about everything and decided to do something about it. I knew you’d be here, so I came here, too. Only thing is, I didn’t know you’d have...her.”

“You mean Stella?”, I asked. “Our daughter? Look at her, Zack. Look at her and tell me how you could ever even think about abandoning us again.”

Zacky reached over and plucked Stella from her seat. Frankly, this surprised me. I was expecting an argument.

“I can’t.”

This was it, I’d known the outcome of this from the very start. I reached over to take Stella back. “Well, like I said, Zacky. Why don’t you just go home and forget about us?”

Zacky moved back, shaking his head. “No, I mean...I can’t leave you. Maybe at first I though I didn’t want kids, but maybe I just wasn’t ready. And now, Tayler, seeing you and her...it made me realize maybe I am ready.”

Stella placed her hand to Zacky’s cheek. “Daddy.”, she gurgled.

“Yea, I’m your daddy.”, he whispered. “And don’t worry, daddy’s never going to leave. Not ever again.”